Local event and final event of North West Urban League 2023, rescheduled from 3rd December 2023.
Update 12/1/24. It will be cold but we should miss the snow this time!
EOD – There is limited entry on the day with the following maps available by course: 1=4 maps, 2=1, 3=13, 4 = 2, 5 = 4. These will be available first come first served. (These availability numbers are in addition to maps reserved for those who contacted me immediately after the online closing date and to whom I have specifically confirmed availability by email for their course request. We are away Saturday so I am unable to deal with further requests for reserving a map – sorry). Juniors should be on courses 4 and 5. The map count is “tight”. Please take extra care to ensure you pick up the correct map and do not take more than 1 map for your course when you start (apart from those who did order extra maps).
Travel & parking – There are gas upgrade works in the centre of Penrith now, closing most of Middlegate to all traffic and the lower part of Brunswick Rd. You should approach from the South, using J40 if coming via or across the motorway, then taking the A592 past Penrith rail station and on past ‘Morrisons’ roundabout’ into Brunswick Rd, past the signs indicating “road closed ahead”. Just past Booths’ supermarket turn right into Bluebell Lane where there are pay and display car parks on both sides. To get out of Penrith you will need to reverse this route. See main event details below for full information on parking.
Toilets – In view of the larger entry than expected I would like to request that male competitors use the public toilets not far South of Bluebell Lane car park (map inside school), leaving the inside toilet for our female competitors please.
IMPORTANT STUFF. Read this if nothing else! – Start times have been extended from 11:00 to 12:30. You may have to queue at the start for your course. Please know your course NUMBER before you go to the start. Loose control descriptions will be inside the school hall and NOT at the start. Course 5 maps are also in the school and NOT at the start. Clear & Check will be at the start. The start box will be handheld – it is still your responsibility to make sure you punch the start. Some courses cross a sports field where there will probably be football games in progress – please don’t cross the pitch areas and respect any spectators. Everyone that starts a course MUST download at the school afterwards, whether you complete the course or not – this is for your safety, and our peace of mind!
Event Centre & Facilities: We are using Brunswick School in Penrith as our event centre, where we have access to a hall, hopefully with the heating on!, and a small common room. Entrance to the school will be through large double gates directly off the car park at Bluebell Lane (see below). The hall will be somewhere you can leave clothing bags, car keys etc whilst out running. Based here we will have the usual event centre functions: enquiries, entry on the day, hired SI card collection, download, control description collection, course 5 map collection, first aid. There is only 1 unisex toilet in the section of the school we can access. There are public toilets not far from the car park which will also be open.
No dogs are permitted at the school please. Also no muddy shoes in the school.
We have been asked to be out of the school building by 3pm. If you intend to head into Penrith to go shopping after your run please first remember to take all your personal belongings with you when you go.
Parking: Parking at Bluebell Lane car park in Penrith; cost £1.10 all day on Sunday: nearest postcode CA11 7LX, OS grid reference NY513302, W3W:///villager.elect.times. There are 127 parking spaces here and it should be quiet on a Sunday morning. Nearby parking at Morrisons and Booths supermarkets is available where there is 2 hours free, but note that parking here is intended for customers and there are cameras. Free parking for 3 hours is available at Penrith New Squares (Sainsbury’s). It is a short walk through the town centre, which is not in the competiton area, to reach the school.
For those looking to arrive by public transport Brunswick School is not far from Penrith rail and bus stations. Anyone arriving by bike will be able to leave it securely within the school grounds (bring a lock).
Courses: Courses as below, with course lengths measured in straight line. The start & finish are not far from the event centre but they are on the opposite side of a busy road. Whilst junior courses do not cross busy roads, juniors on course 5 should be chaperoned or shadowed, particularly to/from start and finish. Juniors (under 16s) must enter courses 4 or 5 no matter what experience or fitness. Those over 16 can enter whichever course you want but to qualify for North West Urban league points you should select the course appropriate for that class.
| Course | Classes | Length | Climb |
| 1 | M Open, M Vet 40+, W Open, Open1 | 6.1km | 85m |
| 2 | M Supervet 55+, M Ultravet 65+ W Vet 40+, W Supervet 55+, Open2 | 4.8km | 75m |
| 3 | M Hypervet 75+ W Ultravet 65+, W Hypervet 75+, Open3 | 2.9km | 30m |
| 4 | M/W16- i.e. born between 1/1/2007 and 31/12/2010, Open4 | 3.3km | 30m |
| 5 | M/W12- i.e. born after 1/1/2011. Those born after 1/1/2013 must be accompanied, Open5 | 2.2km | 10m |
Entries & fees: Online entries are closed. There is limited entry on the day (detailed above) available on a first come first served basis. Adults £7, Juniors £3.
Times: Start times are planned to be between 11:00 to 12:30. There is no set closing time but we are insisting that all finishers must download before 14:30 when we will be starting to collect in controls. Ideally we would like juniors on course 5 to start within the first half hour as we are planning to have someone patrolling within the nature reserve where it can be quiet. Parents can accompany/shadow juniors should they choose.
Start: The start is 450m level walk from the event centre. It is taped via a pelican crossing across a road that can be quite busy at times. Please follow the taped route. There is NO clothing dump at the start. The pre-start area is on a narrow lane which may have the occasional car. There is no space to warm up other than along this narrow lane and a side dead-end lane. Please keep an eye open for vehicles at all times when waiting to start.
There are no set start times so just turn up when ready. You may or may not have to queue for your course depending on who else is at the start at that time. At the start remember to clear & check your SI card. The start box will be handheld. You will be asked to punch the start box before you pick up your course map. (Note that Course 5 maps will be available at the event centre).
Finish: The finish is fairly close to the start and also 450m away from the event centre. The finish may not be manned. After finishing you can use your course map to navigate back to the event centre at Brunswick School, the building being coloured red on the map. After crossing the pedestrian railway bridge directly at the finish you can fork right up a narrow path to pass by Booth’s supermarket. Upon reaching the main road turn right to the pelican crossing, then follow tapes back to the school after crossing the road.
Please remember to download after running. There is no course closing time; we would expect most to have finished by 14:00, and have requested everyone to have downloaded by no later than 14:30 as we have to collect controls (and tidy/lock the school).
Punching: SportIdent punching will be used. All competitors must punch the start and finish boxes. For those using SIAC cards contactless punching will be possible at all controls out on the course.
Controls: Controls will be secured by gripple to lampposts, fences, trees etc. We will not be using conventional stakes.
Terrain: Mostly urban terrain but all courses will cross through Thacka Beck nature reserve where paths may be wet & in places muddy/slippy. If temperatures are very low on the day then paths & road surfaces may be especially slippy. Take care crossing roads. Junior courses are planned to avoid major road crossings but will have to cross some minor roads with limited traffic. Courses 1 and 2 cross the A6 road that comes into Penrith from the North. Please take particular care crossing this road. All competitors should be aware that dog walkers will be in the area, especially the Nature Reserve.
Map: Mapped to ISSprOM 2019-2 standard with a significant new expansion to Penrith added this Autumn. All courses are on A3 waterproof paper at a scale of 1:4000, 5m contours, with control descriptions printed on the front of the map. Courses 1 and 2 have back to back maps with a slight offset. To aid legibility of courses on the map control circles are larger than standard, being 7.5mm rather than 6mm, with control numbers having a small white boundary to highlight them.
All competitors are expected to be aware of urban map uncrossable walls/fences & out of bounds mapping. On the Penrith map efforts have been made to significantly reduce the use of thick black lines to try to aid navigation (ie they are mainly used where there is a need to highlight a boundary). Olive green with black borders (out of bounds private property) is used extensively across the map; the black border could be anything: high or low wall, fence, hedge or even just a grass edge where the garden area is believed to be private. Please respect all areas marked as private or out of bounds.
Whilst the map is ISSprOM there are some special symbols used on the map as follows:
Results: Results and Routegadget will be available shortly after the event on the BL website – borderlinersorienteering.org.
Safety and risk: Orienteering is an adventure sport. A comprehensive risk assessment will have been prepared by the Organiser and identified risks mitigated. However, please be aware that you take part in this event at your risk and are responsible for your own safety. Please consider wearing bright clothing when out on the course and suitable clothing & footwear for conditions on the day. In an emergency Penrith has a minor injuries walk in unit at Penrith Community Hospital on Bridge Lane, near to the A66.
Officials: Planner – Andrew Bell, Organiser – Keith Tonkin (keith@coria.co.uk)
Pop-up Picnic: Bring your packed lunch to a DIY indoor picnic in the school hall after your run. All competitors and friends welcome, not just BL’s. There is a kettle we can use but please do bring your own mug & tea/coffee (I would rather we didn’t use the school ones).
If you are not up for a picnic but want other refreshments Penrith is full of tea rooms. I’m sure there is probably 1 for every day of the month. Some will be open on Sundays but probably not all.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Penrith Town Council and Cumbria Wildlife Trust for permissions, and to Brunswick School for use of their hall & common room.
Next events: Saturday 20th January 2024, Coombs Wood local event. Saturday 3rd February 2024, Hackthorpe local night & NWNL event.
Border Liners Orienteering Club 